E-mail updates
Follow on Twitter
Subscribe to RSSWhile speaking to a group of mom's in Des Moines, Iowa, Newt Gingrich gets choked up while talking about his own mom.
DES MOINES, Iowa -- Newt Gingrich teared up during a campaign stop on Friday, speaking about his late mother in front of a group of mothers in Des Moines.
Gingrich displayed emotion in response to a question from GOP pollster Frank Luntz, who asked the former House speaker to recall special memories of his own mom.
"First of all, you'll get me all teary eyed," Gingrich warned at the outset of his response.
"My mother sang in the choir and loved singing in the choir. I don't know if I should admit this, when I was very young. She made me sing in the choir," he said, wiping away a tear. "But I identify my mother with being happy, loving life, having a sense of joy in her friends, but what she introduced me to is late in her life she ended up in a long term care facility, she had bipolar disease and depression, and she gradually acquired some physical elements."
The emotional display comes at a particularly fragile moment for Gingrich's campaign. In just about a month, he's slid from frontrunner status in Iowa's caucuses to flfth place, according to today's NBC News-Marist poll. Over that time, Gingrich has been besieged by negative ads by super PACs and rival campaigns; he's vowed to stay positive and has responded by challenging competitors to take down their ads. He hasn't had much pushback on air in part because of his campaign's low cashflow.
Those attacks may have worn on Gingrich, whose outburst Friday is almost reminiscent of 2008, when Hillary Clinton broke into tears at a campaign stop in New Hampshire when reflecting on the difficulties of the campaign trail. That moment was interpreted to have helped Clinton politically.
Pausing again, Gingrich said that if he could talk to his mom now he would say "I will do everything I can as a candidate to be worthy" of her, and her generation's sacrifice.
At another point during his answer, Gingrich quipped: "I do policy a lot better than I do personal."
Leave a Comment:
Poor Newt! An orphan!
Seriously....I know I might sound cold and heartless to some of you.....but this is the same guy who wants to put children to work, and take away health care from seniors, and raise the retirement age.
This is the guy who divorced a sick wife. This is the guy who claims to be a firm proponent of family values....but went to to marry twice more.
These tears are real alright...but they're based on his sudenly slipping poll numbers, and the sight of his campaign going down the tubes.
Newt Gingrich is a real illegitimate son of a female dog. (And that was NOT a comment on his mother.)
Why be so mean to each other? I am moved to tears by both very loving and very hateful events. Dunno why, just can't help it. Fotunately, the one that really counts (my sweet wife), thinks no less of me and assures me I am still her "man".
HAPPY NEW YEAR, ALL !!!!
But Newt has no sign of a heart or soul....
This is why "Newt" appears to be "acting".
Most men are endearing when they show their heart or soul.
Bipolar in the family genetic lineage. Maybe this is the cause for Newt's personality and his harem of wives. As for his tearing up this has tones of Boner and of course showing he is in touch with his feminine side thus trying to win over the female GOP and independent votes. What a piece of work. Is there nothing he wouldn't do to get back into politics again? This guy is a real phony from the day he was born and yet some of the GOP people still believe in him.
HAPPY NEW YEAR,EVERYBODY!
Old Dude, there is nothing wrong with becoming emotional. I'm sure you don't do it for personal gain.
It just appears that most of us are not buying it from Newt. He has proven himself to be selfish, cold and calculating. These are not traits that endear one to others....
Why cry phony tears now; you should have spent valuable more time with .your mother in the later stages of her life. I'm sure she raised you to be a better man instead of a crafty politician. Stop playing the "teary eyed momma" card.
He and Boehner probably have happy hour each night and cry over all the spilt milk..
Is MSNBC going to continue to run this story until Gingirich goes up in the polls?